Surface corrosion and hydrogen uptake of materials are well known challenges within the processing industry/research. Chemically active elements will oxidize or form hydroxides when exposed to ambient atmosphere, resulting in degradation of design properties. When a construction material is in bulk form a thin layer thereof can be sacrificed, forming for example near surface oxides. Examples of this are the use of stainless steel, Inconel™, Hasteloy™, and similar metals, in which selective surface segregation give rise to appropriate chemical stability.
The presence of grain boundaries in materials is a challenge when making thin layers, in for example membranes, due to selective chemical affinity of the grain boundaries. This often results in unwanted degradation, which can heavily affect the functionality of for example pressure transducers.
Amorphous oxides are commonly used in the semiconductor industry as electric barriers. Furthermore, the use of hard coating is also well established within the optics industry, for coating common and special glasses. The use of thin metal and oxide sheets are common in e.g. membrane pressure sensors.
The use of amorphous Zr—Al alloys for structural stability and oxidation resistance is known through the Journal of Nuclear Materials 401 (2010) pages 38-45, “Structural stability and oxidation resistance of amorphous Zr—Al alloys”, by I. L. Soroka et al. In FIG. 1 it is illustrated how corrosive forces and tensile stress may cause cracking 2 along grain boundaries 1 of a metal/alloy, and in FIG. 2 it is illustrated how corrosive forces and tensile stress does not easily crack an amorphous metal/alloy. The surface of the metal/alloy is indicated by reference numeral 3 in FIGS. 1 and 2.